Awareness

“Raising awareness is the key and getting people to ask the right questions - only they can decide what they do from there.”

When our group for the Social Action Project in our School and Society class got together, there was no doubt in our minds that the issue of supporting local farmers and promoting local food was an important one. In our discussions, we debated the best possible method to use our project to make a positive contribution to society around us. To begin with, Toronto already has many wonderful organizations with established farming initiatives with education divisions in their organizations.

Additionally, the first localicious festival was taking place in specific restaurants across Canada during the first week that our group coalesced. We concluded that the greatest contribution we could make was one of increasing awareness in our own community at OISE on the importance and ease of obtaining local food and of supporting neighbourhood farmers.

In my own web-searching for my first blog entry, I was amazed to learn that U of T was having a week-long event devoted to different aspects of world foods THIS WEEK! I was excited by this event, but disappointed when I realized most of the key features of the week had passed. I was astounded that there was an event, with similar intentions to ours, occurring at the University level that was beyond the realization of all the members of our group. I know that I receive, and usually skim through, the weekly U of T bulletin, but don’t remember seeing anything related to “world food week” advertised. I would definitely have made an effort to attend at least one event, but now I am left with the feeling “If I only knew…”. Where was this week advertised? I came across the link while I happened to be on the website http://www.localfoodplus.ca/. If a group of students actively interested in the social issue of local food could not hear about this event, then how did others? I’m sure the event was successful and benefited the University community as a whole, but why was it not publicized more thoroughly? This experience leads me to the conclusion that we were justified in promoting awareness as our main goal.

Awareness is important concerning local food itself, but also around efforts to make a difference and publicizing action groups like ours. As we continue with our blog, and the preparation for our panel discussion, I hope we can bring the support of local farmers to a conscious level for our community at OISE, with the hope that our ideas will continue to spread through the use of our colleagues as future teachers. Hopefully, our readers and workshop attendees can have a similar reaction to my “If I only knew…” about issues of local food and be motivated to change their practices. Recognition is the first step to any change. If people leave our event thinking about their actions, and if, as they look to purchase their next bag of apples, they choose the bag from Waterloo, Ontario, instead of from the United States, then we will have begun to make a difference.

Local Kitchen, Yes Please!

As my first exploration of Toronto's local and slowfood restaurant community, tonight I had the incredible pleasure of dining at Local Kitchen Wine Bar & Restaurant in Parkdale. This cozy eatery has only been open for five weeks, but they're already making their mark on the Parkdale neighborhood and they are setting the bar high for my expectations of Toronto restaurants supporting local farmers.

Local Kitchen is a member and supporter of Slow Food Toronto, whose mission is to "create sustainable, local food economies that support just wages for producers while ensuring that we still provide access to good, clean, fair food at a reasonable price to all."

Keeping in line with these ideals, Local Kitchen cures all of their own locally sourced meats (mostly from just outside of Stratford); they acquire some incredible Ontario cheese and dairy products (such as Bufala Burrata - a non-churned version of butter that melts in your mouth); the chef selects fine cuts of meat from Kerr Farms which are prepared using seasonal ingredients; and the pasta is also made in house. The wine lists consists of what our server, Michael Sangregorio, describes as three levels of local: "truly local" Ontario; "almost local" British Colombia, and "local for our ancestors" Southern Italy. While they take creative liberties with this categorization, I can't deny that the glass I enjoyed from Puglia was worth the transatlantic journey.

Perhaps the most impressive elements of Local Kitchen's approach to supporting local farmers are their efforts to serve local all year long through the wonders of canning and preserving, and their willingness to get their hands dirty -- they have a plot of land north of the city where they cultivate their own produce. The arugula salad with Niagara peaches brought my taste buds to life with delicately preserved peaches that were far from the mushy over sweetened canned peaches I was accustomed to. And the fact that my server was possibly responsible for growing that arugula made the salad twice as delightful to enjoy.

Overall, if my impending foray into local eating tastes and smells as good as my meal this evening at Local Kitchen, then I say sign me up as a locavore!

Local Kitchen is located at 1710 Queen Street West, just east of Roncesvalles Avenue. They're open Tues-Sunday for dinner, which I have to add is reasonably priced for the quality of food and service they provide.

Lesson Plans

We are pleased to share with you our first lesson plan, created for your use in the classroom. This lesson plan is designed for a Grade 11 World History classes, but could be adapted to suit your needs. Please feel free to use this resource and share it with your colleagues!

CHW3M Lesson Plan.

Check back soon for more lesson plans that are applicable to other classes!

Links and Resources

Below are some of the resources and organizations that we have discovered in our research. We hope you will find them useful, and if you have any suggestions for additions, please leave us a comment!

Food Cycles
- Urban Farming and composting in TO
- Website is rich with resources
- They post ideas for action (ie hosting a 30 mile food party)
- Possible field trip to learn more?

Added Value
- An urban farm in NYC that has been very successful
- Currently working on a project in partnership with the organization that I worked for in NYC, the Design Trust (http://designtrust.org/projects/project_09farm.html) -- this project will result in a how-to manual for urban farming and also it will address city policy in regards to urban agriculture (currently there is not city zoning law that addresses urban agriculture).

Food Share
- An organization that takes a "multifaceted, innovative, and long-term approach to hunger and food issues.At FoodShare we work on food issues "from field to table" - meaning that we focus on the entire system that puts food on our tables: from the growing, processing and distribution of food to its purchasing, cooking and consumption."
- Their website includes a 'toolbox' of ideas for action.
- Specifically, they are interested in connecting local farmers to economically disadvantaged communities where 'food deserts' exist.

Food Jammers
- A television show in which Micah Donovan, Christopher Martin and Nobu Adilman come up with brilliant designs for culinary contraptions.

Canadian Organic Growers Association
- Includes a database of where to buy organic in Canada.

Green Enterprise Toronto
- They have a list of places consumers can buy local in Toronto.
- They support local, green businesses.

The Center for Social Innovation
- An organization that brings together a variety of non-profits to promote collaboration and social change.

Food Inc
- A movie about the industrial food system. The website also includes a reading list and other resources.

Canadian Policy Research Network
- A resource for researching food policy in Canada.

Ontario EcoSchools
- Education programs (including curriculum resources) based on the environment

The Toronto Food Policy Council
- Partners with businesses and community groups to develop policies promoting food security -- equitable food access, nutrition, community and environmental health.

GTA Local Food
- This website is primarily about where to get local food, but if you go to the agricultural profile section, it provides statistics on the current status of farming in the GTA.

Whitmore's Farm
- A local farm.

Foodland Ontario
- This is an official program from the Ontario government that is very active and yet still highly overlooked.
- The website has a growing season index, recipes, kids activities and traveling events. Perhaps some co-ordination with this group might make our job easier.

Ontario Greenbelt Alliance
As a part of the company Enviromental Defence, Ontario Greenbelt Alliance acts as a researcher and defender of the Ontario Greenbelt. They protect try to protect the enviroment of the greenbelt while advoacating its conservation and established use as farmland. They combat the sale and industrial development of the greenbelt when ever possible. They have many credible organizations as supporting members. They call local farmers the "Stewards" of the Greenbelt.

Jamie Kennedy's restaurants.
He cooks "locally" (Canada is local in this context). He is also a strong advocate of Ontario wines, which is one of the more profitable farming opportunities in Ontario.

World Wildlife Fund Localicious
The World Wildlife Fund has a campaign going on right now called Localicioius and it promotes eating locally at participating restaurants. Although this campaign only runs from Oct2-18, this is a good idea to promote local eating to restaurants in our community, even if they just have one dish. Restaurants are also distributors of food. So that's an idea. Restaurants having at least one local dish may feel proud about it and advertise their restaurant as a locally runned restaurant, therefore that might attract customers to try and also mabye they will consider locally grown in their home too. Just a few strands that can lead to differnt places with this idea that I totally stole from wwf.

Harvest Wednesdays
Chef Marc Breton at the Gladstone Hotel prepares a meal from food produced by local farmers every Wednesday.

The Farm Show (play)
A collective creation based on an ensemble who spent 6 weeks in rural ontario living and working on a farm in order to create a show. This play is from the early '70s but there are some pertinent monologues in there.

Ministry of Agriculture: Food and Rural Affairs - Pick Ontario Campaign

Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance

November 22 is Buy Local Day!

Ontario Agri-Food Education
Working to increase awareness of the agri-food industry by providing educational programs and resources. Many links to other great resources.

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

This annual event showcases some of the new innovations in agricultural policy and technological development including enviromental awareness, community involvement, health and energy. It is running November 8-16 2009 at the Exibition Place. Adult tickets are $16.

Canaidan International Farm Show

This event connects farmers from all across Canada to discuss major issues in farming such as local support, environment and innovation.

It is running Feb 16-19 2010 at the Toronto International Centre.